From cold baptismal waters I rose, radiant, and ready
for grand adventure and camaraderie.

Yet, even then, I understood that surrender
and sacrifice would be stepping stones
to home, to hope and harmony.
I don’t think I liked it much
that saying goodbye
should be required at all,
that there should be valleys
and that I should find myself again
in a dark wood, lost, and unbearably alone.

Into warm waters of a rare evening bath, I descend,
remembering I must let go to live, to be free.

Yet, even now, I mourn any loss of self and
fear immersion, resistant to release.
The dissonance within leads me
to confusion, stilled at last
by a return to the water,
where I soak long enough
to shed the sin of refusing to
allow what is to be, where my body
begins to acclimate itself to flow of grace.

From cooling waters I rise, filled with a spirit of peace,
traveling light into these uncertain times.